Wake County unveils $1.8 billion budget plan that includes property tax hike

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Wake County is proposing a $1.8 billion budget for the 2024 fiscal year, and it includes a property tax increase.

County Manager David Ellis presented the recommendation to county commissioners Monday evening.

The proposed property tax increase is 2.25 cents for every $100 of assessed value.

That is on top of a 1 cent property tax increase that voters approved in November to pay for education bonds.

It brings the property tax rate to 65.2 cents for every $100 of property value.

That's just the Wake County part of your bill and does not include city or town property taxes.

It means for residents with an assessed value of about $300,000, the property tax bill will increase by $98 a year.

"Before I started building the budget, I asked our staff to find new ways to reduce costs, increase efficiency and better utilize existing resources," Ellis said. "Then, I closely evaluated the requests for additional funding and included in my recommended budget those that would have a real impact on the health, safety and wellbeing of our nearly 1.2 million residents."

The budget also calls for $634 million for the Wake County school district and $32 million for Wake Tech. The school superintendent wanted about $16 million more than that.

The county also wants to invest $20 million to address affordable housing and capital projects.

"Well, you have to think short term and long term, right? We have a booming economy, but as I talked about earlier, inflation, bank closures," Ellis said. "The fact that the feds are raising interest rates; We have to take those things into account. No one wants to go into recession but we have to in the back of our mind and also watch that and see what occurs."

To help recruit deputies and detention officers, the county wants to increase starting pay to $50,000 per year.

The county will hold the first public hearing on the budget on May 9.